Dave Martin

Have you looked around lately? Go on… walk around in town during a busy shopping day… or go out on a Saturday night… tell me if you see any other species in almost even remote abundance as humans (ok bacteria will fuck up my argument) but let’s just leave the micro-biome out of this one).

And? What do you think? Head out into the busiest spot to go out at night and tell me if you see as many mountain lions as people. Or vultures. Or sting rays. Most likely no.

That ‘s because as a population, as a species, as Humans… we win.

There is no other species on this earth that can push one button and destroy the planet in the space of a couple minutes. So we’ve done it. Although we do need to coexist with other species, and our place in the ecosystem is still one that depends on other species and environments, we’re good. And there’s over 7 billion of us too.  

So if someone ever accuses you of selfishness by not having children (or you think you may be being selfish by choosing not to have some), here’s what Ricky Gervais’ says in Humanity. 

He says there’s not a box of ghost children trapped somewhere just waiting to be released. And by not having more kids, you are being selfish by not letting out the ghost children and letting them be real, non-ghost children.

Having kids is not necessary (and may be an entirely self-serving act based on our species already dominant position). So the choice is yours (sidenote: this is mine). Being selfish is what helped humans become #1, but making conscious decisions based on the information we have is what makes each individual live the best life they can, based on what is necessary in life.